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Archive for the ‘Resources’ Category
Tuesday, September 7th, 2010
A short tutorial on the “why” of “Full Justification” versus “Rag Right”
The biggest question you must ask yourself is “form or function?” When setting up text heavy documents, is the look more important that the readability? Is there a best case scenario in this artistic compromise? Quite a few designers LOVE to use full justification when even if the readability suffers greatly. I have a few example screen shots which I will discuss briefly below.
First off, we have a four column layout with text set to full justification. You can clearly see the odd spacing on some lines between words. Some of this can be adjusted to look a little better with tracking and kerning but that can lead to more problems with the first revision. This type of narrow column becomes very hard to read when set to full justification.
Suggest: Wider columns or rag right text
The image below is three columns set to full justification, its better than the 4 column layout as most of the text does not have the large spaces between words that makes it difficult to read, but as you can see where the text wraps around the picture you still get the hard to read spacing.
Suggest: Moving the photo or making text rag right
Below is a better option, although beauty (in typesetting) is in the eye of the beholder, I think a “rag right” setting makes the text much easier to read and maintains an overall better look with narrow columns.
Suggest: Looks pretty good but I would still think about wider columns to add legibility
If you must have “justified text” find a column width that works well with automatic word spacing as seen below, the larger the column the better your text will automatically flow, so make adjustments to your layout as needed to achieve the best look and readability possible.
Suggest: perhaps playing around with different options for image placement, but the text readability and overall look are both good
So many designers today don;t seem to pay attention to the details like typesetting. The usage of Kerning, tracking, leading and all the other options available to todays designers should be used with fervent zest! Once you have your design completed bring it on over to PGprint and see just how economically we can print your new work of art!
Christopher Robinson
Tags: adobe, tutorial, type, typesetting
Posted in Design, Resources, Training/Tutorials | No Comments »
Friday, September 3rd, 2010
Smashing Magazine has hit on the 10 most common mistakes made in logo design. It’s a great post that creatives and purchasers alike should read and take to heart! In a nutshell the list is comprised thusly:
1. Designed by an Amateur
2. Relies on Trends
3. Uses Raster Images
4. Contains Stock Art
5. Designing for Yourself Rather than the Client
6. Overly Complex
7. Relies on Color for Effect
8. Poor Choice of Font
9. Too Many Fonts
10. Copies Others
For screen shots, more information and a good read pop over to Smashing Magazines Blog and check out the full post.
Christopher Robinson
Upcoming soon, my own list of common errors when ordering online printing
Tags: logo design
Posted in Resources | No Comments »
Tuesday, August 24th, 2010
How to Make Grunge Type Effects
Today’s blog is a quickie on how to add grunge effects to type easily. First you will need some grungy images, best place to find these is on the web or take them yourself. Make sure before you use an image from the web that the owner/photographer has released rights for personal/commercial use and reproduction (see blog on copyright!) I found some images at Desizn Tech that are free for personal and commercial use, it is also a good reference site for for web designers, techs and anyone with an interest in design in general, back to the topic at hand…
Once you have an image in hand, make sure it has good contrast in the image for the area you want to pull out for your “grunge”. I adjusted the contrast a little in photoshop in the image I picked (from Desizn Tech) before placing it in Adobe Illustrator. Once in Illustrator I ran live trace and adjusted my options to pull out the dark areas. I set it to blakc and white and then ungrouped and removed the white areas leaving me just the black shown below.
Once I had the grunge for my image (see above) I turned the black to magenta so I could see the type and the image areas and overlap clearly (below).
At this point I selected the type, converted it to outlines, colored the grunge art white again and used the pathfinder divide tool to subtract the grunge from the type I then selected all the white areas using “select same fill color” and deleted the white parts. You can see the remainder (below) with points highlighted.
At this point you are done and have your grunge artwork ready to go, click on the image below to see a more blown up version. You can also have a two-tone look by putting another copy of the type artwork without the grunge effect to fill in the white areas with another color.
I hope you enjoyed this little tutorial, and when you are done with that “grunge” poster bring it on over and have us print it for you here at PGprint.com!
Christopher Robinson
Tags: adobe illustrator, Design, grunge, tutorial
Posted in Design, Resources, Training/Tutorials | No Comments »
Wednesday, August 18th, 2010
A great source of reference material for copyright and trademark concerns.
Copyright and Trademarks are two things that everyone knows a little about… but could, and should… know more. In this article I will list some online resources for you to bookmark and reference and explain some of the more basic info myself. Every designer creating logos or writing copy should be aware of.
What exactly are trademarks? Here is an exerpt from the Cornell University Law School’s Law dictionary and encyclopedia:
“Trademarks are generally words, phrases, logos and symbols used by producers to identify their goods. However, shapes, sounds, fragrances and colors may also be registered as trademarks…Almost any word, name, symbol, or device capable of distinguishing the source of goods may be used as a trademark subject to few limitations… ”
Here are a few sites you should bookmark in case you ever get into a situation where you need to trademark something.
Cornell University Law School’s Law dictionary and encyclopedia on Trademarks
United States Patent and Trademark Office (official Government site)
What exactly is Copyright? The US copyright office has this to say about copyright basics:
“Copyright is a form of protection provided by the laws of the United States (title 17, U. S. Code) to the authors of ‘original works of authorship,’ including literary, dramatic, musical, artistic, and certain other intellectual works. This protection is available to both published and unpublished works.”
A few useful links to more information on copyright can be found at the sites below.
US Copyright Office (make sure to check out the copyright basics!)
Copyright Alliance
There is a lot of great information located on the above sites, the general info I have posted should give you enough to understand the basics of the basics, but don’t stop there! Enjoy the read, and when you finish that trademarked logo and set up your stationary come see us for the Printing!
Christopher Robinson
Tags: Designer resources, resource, trademark
Posted in Resources | No Comments »
Monday, August 9th, 2010
The AIGA provides some great free resources
The “AIGA, the professional association for design” which used to stand for “American Institute of Graphic Arts” a silly and confusing change in my opinion, but the site is still a wealth of information and inspiration for designers. I will hit on the areas of the site I think are most useful.
Inspiration - Over 20,000 designs from competitions are located in the Inspiration section of the web site, a great resource for those moments when you get a mental block. There are also some interesting “reads” in this area.
Professional Resources – This is one of my favorite resources as a designer, they have Standards of professional practice, and annual salary survey that can help when searching for that next shift in jobs or getting that overdue raise and various other freelance oriented resources.
There is also an education section and a business section that discusses ethics and spec work. AIGA also has the ubiquitous “green” section where sustainability, democracy and diveristy are king. This “Society and Nature” section also contains a good reference to a set of 50 symbols produced by AIGA and the U.S. Department of transportation back in 1974 that can be downloaded as eps or gif artwork free of charge!
As a designer you can spend quite a bit of time on the site the first time around and I am sure you will set some bookmarks. Student membership is $95 and individual membership starts at $230. Check out the site here
After you get done with all your research there, have your new inspiration in hand, and design complete, come back here and let allow us to provide you with a superior product!
Christopher Robinson
Tags: aiga, Designer resources
Posted in News, Resources | No Comments »
Friday, July 9th, 2010
One of the most important ideas behind Design is branding.
Logo Design is one aspect of graphic design that is more fun than any other. The one thing young designers tend to forget is the branding concept. In creating a logo you must think ahead to all the possible uses for the individual company as well as mapping out the individual uses for the logo being designed. Some question you must ask yourself and the client, will there be the need for a one color version? a black and white version? will it need to be reversed out of a background? Small usage versus large scale usage? All of these question will play into your design of the initial logo. If you don’t take all of these questions into consideration with initial design it can be easy to create a nightmare that cant be used in some of these instances. Branding takes it a step further.
The definition according to the American Marketing Association (AMA): “name, term, sign, symbol or design, or a combination of them intended to identify the goods and services of one seller or group of sellers and to differentiate them from those of other sellers.” To take it a step further in your design, you need to make sure the logo you create can be used in conjunction with cohesive branding to promote the clients company by delivering a clear message, maintains credibility, connects with the target audience, motivates and creates loyalty. Seems like a lot to ask from an identity, but look at the big ones… Coca Cola, McDonald’s, etc… Review how large corps utilize branding throughout the design of every piece of advertising, merchandise and product. Learn as much as you can from the designers in which footsteps you follow. Here are a few great links in regard to branding and logo design and re-design that I think you will enjoy.
need a logo in vector art? try here
brands of the world
want to see some great logo re-design?
Brand New
Christopher Robinson
Check out our print services once you have your logo created and are ready to start printing identity packages!
Tags: brand, Design, logo
Posted in Resources, Training/Tutorials | No Comments »
Tuesday, June 29th, 2010
How to Set up Spot Varnish for Offset Printing
There are a variety of ways to set up spot varnish plates for printing, the easiest way to to have your printer do it for you! If you do want to do it yourself here are two easy ways.
First, you can create a spot color layer in your photoshop images. This method has its pros and cons, on the pro side you can see the varnish on top of the image and make sure it lines up exactly how you want it. On the con side, the varnish layer will print with your photo when you try and do a proof. I use magenta as my spot color (but “name” it Varnish). In the final proofing stage through our prepress software we can print out a proof with varnish included or a proof with no varnish included, we usually do both, it cost a bit more but a LOT less than a re-run if your spot varnish is not set up correclty.
You can also set up a different file for the spot varnish. Once you have finished creating your design and it is approved do a “save as” and add varnish into the name at this point you can just fill the areas where you want the spot varnish with the spot color “varnish” (that you must create in the swatches palette). If your images are square just delete the content of the image box and fill the box with “varnish” if you have images silhouetted you will have to make a selection of the area in your image file and fill it with the spot color “varnish”. There are a variety of other ways to pull off a spot varnish color, the main thing to do is to have someone look at your file and make sure you have set it up correctly. This will require spending a few minutes with them and explaining your goals and concept.
Have fun with your set up… and when ready to print, call us for a custom quote!
Christopher Robinson
Tags: diy, printing, spot varnish
Posted in Design, Resources, Training/Tutorials | No Comments »
Wednesday, June 16th, 2010
The Confusion with Black Ink and Offset Printing.
 simulation of color inks Many designers are unclear exactly how inks react to other inks and paper itself. To start with the basics almost all inks are transparent. This allows for the advent of “process” or full color printing. The actual dot patterns produced by each color are set up in a rosette pattern and the colors overlap. The additive combination of Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black Inks produce the spectrum of colors available in process Printing. When using black in a process Job your type (unless it is rather large block type) should be composed of only Black ink. Otherwise any mis-registration on press will give a fuzzy look. Shapes and objects on the other hand should be composed of a rich black, black ink and a combination of the other inks at different percentages (example: 70C, 50M, 30Y, 100K). This combination delivers a black that is “blacker” and a bit cool. There are a many variations of rich black used in the printing business. One thing to note is that with laser printers black will seem darker than on press. Also most professional design programs show a representation of “rich black” on screen. As a rule typically trapping software will overprint black ink, so if your black graphic overlaps another color graphic it will seem darker where the overlap occurs if you don’t use a rich black.
Christopher Robinson
If you need more help try our online common mistakes section
Tags: black, black ink, process printing
Posted in Resources, Training/Tutorials | No Comments »
Wednesday, May 26th, 2010
Automatic Color Generator for Designers
 I ran across this useful tool a while back and I thought I would share it with my followers. Every now and then creating a nice color palette can be a difficult, for me it was always coming up with more feminine palettes. Even after having several classes in color theory under your belt it can still be a challenge at times. The site (run by Adobe) gives you HSV, RGB, CMYK, LAB and HEX breakdowns of each color. It is a very handy tool for any designer! Check it out HERE and play with it yourself. Being able to specify the color rules to follow is a nice treat as well, analogous, monochromatic, complementary, etc… There is also a section that includes themes, a community, and some beta features I have yet to try. I have posted a couple of screen shots for a quick look. I hope you enjoy using it as much as I do!
Christopher Robinson
Once you finish that project come upload and print it at PGprint.com!
Posted in Design, Resources | No Comments »
Monday, April 19th, 2010
Adobe Posts Launch Event Video for CS5
This is an hour long video produced by Adobe showcasing CS5 and new features. The software looks pretty amazing to me. They cover many new added features and new apps. I was even more amazed than when I watched the content aware filter. Quite a few items I don’t think I will ever use. They hit many capabilities and review the hot new additions including: Design, video production, web, photography, etc.. Information on the new Flash engine is also discussed as well as several other new helper apps such as “CS live online service.” It is all amazing, the technology advances from my early days using Photoshop version 2 to the current (shipping mid-May) CS5 have advanced beyond what I would have thought even possible. Online Review seems to be one of the most interesting concepts to me, soft proofing over the web… Check it out on Adobe’s site [HERE]
Christopher Robinson
Need some CS5 training? Check out the short tutorials going up in the blog!
Tags: adobe, adobe creative suite, CS5, CS5 news
Posted in News, Resources | No Comments »
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